Ten Interesting Facts About Myself

• I have visited 48 states. All I have left is Alaska and Hawaii.
• I am an ENTP
• I have a rare disorder of an undisclosed nature, I suffer from moderate hearing loss, 24/7 tinnitus, and a long-term shoulder issue.
• I am one of The Few and The Proud.
• I have learned more about who I really am in the last 4 years than all my years before.
• I was once a very good marksman.
• I love what I do for a living, and would do it for free if I could afford to.
• I once gave a very famous rock star a fat lip and a black eye (he deserved it).
• I have driven coast-to-coast 3 times: twice in lifted Jeep CJ-7s, and once in a Datsun 260Z.
• I have plenty of regrets, but I love where my life experience has brought me so far.

My First Love and First Kiss

When I was 4 or 5 years old, a cute little girl next door named Alison stole my heart. We quickly became “boyfriend and girlfriend” and we played “wedding” a lot. Of course, when the “preacher” announced that the husband could kiss his wife, well… Alison and I are still friends.

I had a few girlfriends growing up, and even a short-lived marriage right when I joined the Marine Corps. One day in the barracks I saw a new WM (Woman Marine) that all the other guys were talking about, and I just knew I would never stand a chance with her. I didn’t even dare try to talk with her. One day I went to the barracks laundry room to wash my uniforms, and found a load someone left in the washer. It was a female’s clothing, but I didn’t let that bother me. I just transferred the load to the dryer without ogling the panties (too much), and went on about my business. And then she walked in. Before I could explain that I had moved her clothes into the dryer, and did NOT fondle her gear, she smiled, said she had seen me through the door, and thanked me. And then she hung around and chatted while our laundry finished up. That simple and unassuming few minutes together gave me the courage to ask her out to dinner… and she said yes! Thus followed a magical few months that I will always remember as my first real love… until she graduated Marine Corps Combat Engineer School (at the top of her class!), and she moved back to her hometown… and promptly broke my heart.

My Earliest Memory

Once upon a time, my earliest memory (believe it or not) was of being breastfed. The problem with that memory was that my mother never breastfed me. My stepmother (whom I called “Mom”) finally figured out that what probably happened was that my aunt had probably done it, and I must have thought it was weird, so that’s why it stuck in my memory. Nowadays, I only remember remembering it. Strange how memory works… and sometimes doesn’t work.

When I was 5 or 6 my older sister Diane and I snuck down by the creek near our house, and I watched while she smoked grapevine. She threatened me with physical harm (ok, I may be misremembering that part) against telling Mom and Dad. Guess what I did the moment we got home? Yep. And I lived through it. But I only remember remembering that now.

When I was 14, I witnessed my Dad saving a woman’s life. We were driving his semi truck down a highway in Oklahoma City when he hit the brakes hard. That woke me up out of my bored stupor enough to jump across to his seat and look out the window as he ran across the road and back a hundred feet or so, to where a guy was pointing a handgun at a lady in a car parked at the curb. This all happened within a few seconds - my dad snuck up behind the guy, grabbed his gun, and planted a punch right into his face. The guy fell to the ground, knocked out cold. My dad yelled at the woman to drive away, and she peeled out and took off. My dad tucked the gun under his belt, rolled the guy over against the curb, and trotted back to the truck. He handed the revolver to me, told me to unload it, which I did… as he shifted the truck into gear and drove away… just like the badass Marine he was.

Speaking of violence, I once had a rather significant unwelcome event force me into a desperate but very necessary act. It has really worked to twist me up inside. I have gone for the last 20 years shifting back and forth between remembering it like it had just happened, to thinking it actually didn’t happen, even though it really did. Now that the non-disclosure agreement has expired, maybe I should finally go see a counselor about it.

At this point, my earliest memory that I can honestly recall with clarity is from when I was 13 years old. My dad and I were driving around town, and I was thinking about that breastfeeding memory. No, this isn’t about to get icky - it happened to be shortly after my Mom figured it all out, I found myself thinking about memory, and worrying that my brain would get clogged up with meaningless memories, rather than ones I could hold onto and value. At that moment, a man in a white van turned left in front of us, and waved at my dad. My dad waved back. And now that’s my earliest memory.

I Don't Care Who You Are - This Is FUNNY

“FIRST DEMOCRAT DEBATE HIGHLIGHTS: 2015” —- A Bad Lip Reading of the First Debate
Posted by Conservative 50 - Living The American Dream on Thursday, October 29, 2015

Five Problems with Social Media

Dang - right off the bat, I’ve got a problem with this “30-Day Writing Challenge” thing. Actually, my problem isn’t with the Challenge itself; it’s with how the topic for this first day’s piece is written, which is my point: there are no problems with social media. The technology is progressing in some very interesting and important ways. There ARE some problems with how people use (and abuse) social media, though.

I am the first to admit a mild addiction to some social media tools; Facebook is at the top of that list. My excuse relates to my interest (personal and professional) in how people use technology to learn and improve their lives. I figure that, although I spend too much time on social media, at least I am absorbing knowledge that has contributed to my success as an educational technologist. Like many other people, I waste a lot of time randomly browsing mindless posts, memes, nonsense “news” pieces, biased stories, and other general nonsense, when I could and should be doing something outdoors. And when I am outdoors, sometimes out in the middle of a wonderful motorcycle or mountain bike ride or hike, what do I often do? Yep, I reach for social media, in case one of my “friends” out there might appreciate a selfie of Paul in a cool place. Ugh.

Another problem with social media involves data mining of our thoughts, ideas, comments, preferences, etc. in ways that often surprise people. Ever wonder why an ad for a product you just commented on suddenly appears on the side of your Facebook feed? You don’t really wonder how that happened, right? Does it bother you? I have grown (groan?) accustomed to it.

When people blindly accept the default privacy settings as they sign up for a social media tool ("I'm excited to get started - I'll do that later") they open themselves up to issues they may not foresee. We also need to pay attention to how privacy settings and terms of service agreements change over time, and make sure we are comfortable with where a given tool is headed in regard to how it handles and manages the data it extracts and extrapolates from your interaction.

I wish more people realized that Twitter isn’t just “I just farted!” updates. Sure, there is a lot of that noise out there, but Twitter has proven to be a gold mine for me when I use it as a news and information collating filter. I won’t get into the nuts and bolts of that right here and now, but it’s not too difficult to figure out.

Lastly, a problem… actually, more of a gripe about a certain social media tool I like a lot: Can someone please tell my why the otherwise awesome app that is @Instagram STILL doesn’t implement one of the most basic aspects of social media - SHARING content between users? Why do we need an external app to do this? Can’t those three little dots at the bottom right of each post include a “Repost” feature? ‪#‎instagram‬ ‪#‎ugh‬

Anthropogenic Climate Change?

I wonder how the level of greenhouse gas emissions by cars, trucks, factories (all of the sources traditionally blamed for global climate change) compares to the level emitted by all of the wildfires across the West. And then there is the idea that the wildfires wouldn't be nearly as bad if our National Forests were better managed. Now THAT would be some evidence of anthropogenic climate change.

Motorcycle Tour of Iceland

Check THIS out!

Hypocrisy?

This Will Bend Your Brain

How to Schedule Gmail Messages

I am hesitant to use 3rd-party apps in my Gmail until & unless someone I know has recommended it. Luckily, I keep this page bookmarked for just such an occasion. Let me know what you think of it!

What Happens When You Ignore Your Mom's Texts

Hamburger Meat

THIS says it better than I could ever describe the “picking and pecking and pushing and prodding and poking” that drove me ABSOLUTELY BANANAS in my marriage.

Game-Changer

This is a real game-changer. And by "game," I mean the race-baiting antics and comments of Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Eric Holder, and yes, Barack Obama, among many others.

Build a New Model

Ok, we have built a new model of effective and efficient face-to-face, online, and hybrid education. What's our next step toward greater adoption, Mr. Fuller?

Michael Brown Fact & Fiction

Wait, where is the element of institutionalized racism the mass media and protestors have been claiming?

Transparent? Yes, We See Right Through You

Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber was caught bragging about deceiving the American people, who he thinks are stupid.

"… if you had a law which said that healthy people are going to pay in, you made explicit healthy people pay in and sick people get money, [Obamacare] would not have passed. Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage. And basically, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that was really really critical to get for the thing to pass."

UPDATE 11/13/14

Nancy Pelosi doesn't know who Jonathan Gruber is, and has reassured us he didn't help write the Obamacare bill.

I feel better already.

UPDATE 11/14/14

Another video clip has surfaced.

And this one where Gruber confirms Obama was in on the deliberate planning of the deception:

UPDATE 11/15/14

What I see in the video below smells to me like the far-left liberal Marxist tactics exposed in the book "The Liberal Mind: The Psychological Causes of Political Madness."

UPDATE 11/18/14

Former Obama Adviser: Gruber Was 'the Man' on ObamaCare Creation

The Never-Ending TV Company Issue

I don't initiate a support chat in order to receive a sales pitch for a product that isn't marketed toward my best interests. I can't believe in this day and age, we still cannot get TV content a la cart, but instead have to pay for dozens and dozens of channels we will never use, just to get the few we want. Well, at least with the major players we can't. I hate online support chat, but when I do have to enter that realm, I let them have it.

Is Capitalism Environmentally Unsustainable?

Human activity is remaking the face of the Earth: transforming and polluting the landscape, warming the atmosphere and oceans, and causing species to go extinct. The orthodox view among ecologists is that human liberty—more specifically economic activity and free markets—is to blame.

Continue reading here.

Who Are the Racists: Conservatives or Liberals?

The Myth of the Tiny Radical Muslim Minority